So think about it. Do we want to recognize the club with the most points in the competition or not? If not, what should we be recognizing?

Kinda wondering if you actually did read all 20 pages of this thread because I'm pretty sure that most folks chatting here clearly state they want this to be a competitive award and not solely be for the 2 clubs that actually have enough entries to win this award. If it's going to remain a tonnage style award, then I would like to see Radegast and Gambrinus elevated with more pomp and circumstance as both those awards are equally achievable for all clubs and AHA members, unlike COTY.

Yes, I read it, although I admit to only skimming the novel you wrote on p. 9.

The question I am asking is not "Do we want Club of the Year to be more competitive?" Separate the name from what the award is actually for. Do we want to recognize the club with the most points in the competition or not? Yes or no? I think it is an impressive achievement. As impressive as most points in the 2nd round (not currently an award)? No. As impressive as most final round points per entry (currently the Gambrinus Club of the Year award)? No. But still really cool.

Perhaps the answer is to rename Homebrew Club of the Year to Juggernaut (thanks theDarkSide), and create one based on second round points only.

The BN Army is a club if they want to be a club. They don't need a board, a charter, a constitution, articles of incorporation, dues, or a meeting to be a club. The only requirement to be a club should be a group of brewers that share a common bond and have a desire to be together as one.

I would agree with this, especially since two out of three clubs I belonged to would not be considered clubs if this was required. And neither one is the BN club.

As for Justin and his influence, he is not on the competition committee and to my recollection has never commented to me at all about anything related to the competition or tried to influence any decision in any way. Except I think one year after the banquet he said he wished QUAFF would have won Club of the Year that year.

And as for melliott2811's comment that "the GC could change things", the GC does not change anything. We are an advisory group, not a board of directors. We make suggestions and provide feedback, the AHA makes the changes. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't.

Oxford commas forever, double space after periods always, and someone please send me a message with the horrific thing that was said, sorry I missed the members meeting in San Diego.

Hi everyone, for those who don't know me I am co-chair of the AHA GC Competition Subcommittee. We are focused on the competition and awards and make suggestions to the AHA for changes from year to year.

Yes, we are paying attention to the discussion and I just finished reading through 20 pages of stuff. The competition committee is going to look at this issue and see what recommendations we want to make to the AHA.

Which brings me to ask you to help me out on something, since I think it is helpful to talk about what you think is worth a club award. Is the issue that you feel like it is not an achievement worth recognizing, or is it that the same club keeps winning over and over again? If instead of "Club of the Year", the award was called "Club with the Most Points in the Competition of the Year" would that be better for you? Because that is all the award is, by definition. "Homebrew Club of the Year will be awarded to the club that accumulates the most total points in all categories of beer, mead and cider in the First and Final Rounds."

Personally, I have no problem with the award the way it is. It is straightforward and favors large clubs, the larger the better. That is the nature of it, and because that is the nature of it I have never felt it was the most important award given out for the competition. Its importance is further diminished by the introduction of newer awards that recognize other achievements (Radegast) and level the playing field (Gambrinus).

What doesn't make it seem unimportant is the name, Club of the Year sounds like a big deal. I would be perfectly happy renaming the Gambrinus award Club of the Year, and calling the club with the most points in the competition the Gambrinus award winner or some other name.

So think about it. Do we want to recognize the club with the most points in the competition or not? If not, what should we be recognizing?

To me, the Briess cherry wood smoked malt is overly harsh and phenolic. At 30% I would go with weyermann rauch (beech wood smoked) instead. For more intense smoke I would replace all of the pils malt with the rauch malt.

I had 2 of 4 packages mysteriously 'disappear' last winter. Thinking that they got confiscated by customs as you are not supposed to ship alcohol across the border, I am trying to come up with a different packaging. Root beer sounds good.

I have had beer freeze when shipping it in winter. Then it thaws in the warehouse and makes a mess. They have notified me, but thrown it away.

It's ~$20 worth of stuff repackaged and sold for 3x that. However, keep in mind that you will need to buy larger quantities of stuff than you really need and you'll have to pay shipping, which will drive up your cost to above $60 for sure. Plus you'll need to sterilize this stuff yourself, do you have a pressure cooker? With that in mind I think it's not too bad of a deal.

On the other hand, if you are just interested in the tubes, agar, parafilm, and plates you can find that stuff on amazon.

I didn't want to say anything about that to be polite. I think it was between games of a double header with Cleveland. The fans stormed the field and game two was a forfeit for Cleveland.

I never heard of it, but here is what the wikipedia page says:

Quote

Disco Demolition Night was an ill-fated baseball promotion that took place on July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. At the climax of the event, a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field between games of the twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Many of those in attendance had come to see the explosion rather than the games and rushed onto the field after the detonation. The playing field was damaged both by the explosion and by the rowdy fans to the point where the White Sox were required to forfeit the second game of the doubleheader to the Tigers.

For what it's worth, whiskey makers I have spoken to use beer yeast to ferment the wash, not whiskey yeast. One guy likes 1056. I didn't get to try his whiskey, but his rum won an award at the distillers competition they just had in Seattle.

This is true, though there are certainly many distilleries that have their own personal strain. Jack Daniels, for one.

I'm not surprised. These were newish microdistillers I was talking to, I imagine lots of people do things differently.

Most of the guys at the home distillation forum recommend the chico strain especially to beginners. Back "in the day" some of the distilleries in Tennessee and Kentucky used to let you actually taste their krausen on ferments depending on what tour you were on. Wish I had gotten me a few samples. Non do that any longer that I have seen.

Have you ever tasted the krausen on any of your beers? i can't say I have, but I imagine it would be bitter and nasty. But without hops in the ferment maybe it is more pleasant.